


Thanks a lot Howard (or another time Tony falls asleep in less than convenient circumstances)

by ohmypuckinggod



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Car Accident, Daddy Issues, Everyone's fine, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, Super Husbands, Tony Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 23:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4119051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmypuckinggod/pseuds/ohmypuckinggod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Howard's A+ parenting once again leads to reckless decision making, and Tony ends up in the hospital.  Steve is a good husband and Tony loves him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thanks a lot Howard (or another time Tony falls asleep in less than convenient circumstances)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know what gave me the urge to write this, but I just really wanted stony husbands and the rest just kinda fell into place. Enjoy!

Steve slammed on the breaks as he got caught at yet another red light, huffing out a breath of frustration. It seemed to him that he was catching every red light no matter which street he turned down.

He glanced at the car’s clock again and tapped his fingers against the wheel with impatience and worry. Apparently, Tony had been in an accident hours ago, but no one had called to notify him, or any of the other Avengers for that matter, until fifteen minutes ago. The doctor had said that the injuries were relatively minor, so it made sense to Steve that they wouldn’t think it prudent. But on the other hand, Tony had left the tower without telling anyone. The fact that the team hadn’t known where he was, and yet no one at the hospital had taken the time to call made Steve’s stomach churn.

Tony had been in the process of being rushed to the hospital, while Steve had been calmly reading the newspaper and sipping his coffee. It made him feel sick.

The light finally turned green and Steve sped toward the hospital. The amount of time it had taken Steve to drive there had given him time to think, and he’d realized that the whole thing didn’t make sense. He knew for a fact that all of Tony’s cars had Jarvis installed in them to take over the wheel in case of emergency or potential accident, just as Jarvis had taken over the Iron Man suit many times in combat when Tony was incapacitated or injured too severely. Not only that, but Tony had also built safety codes into all his cars that would pull them over if Tony became compromised in any way.

That didn’t leave a lot of options for what might’ve happened, and Steve didn’t have any explanation. All the doctor had said on the phone was that Tony had been in an accident hours ago with minor injuries, and that no one else had been hurt.

Steve took a left and pulled into the hospital’s parking lot, hastily parking the car and jumping out, for once not caring if he’d parked between the lines. Walking through the hospital doors, he immediately headed toward the elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor. He took a moment to think about the fact that he’d been to this hospital enough to know which floor Tony would be on. It was kind of a sad thought.

After agonizing seconds of simply staring at the elevator number slowly reach seven, Steve took a deep breath before emerging into the waiting room. He needed to calm down. Tony only had minor injuries; there was no need for him to tear the place apart in his haste to reach him.

The nurse at the counter recognized who Steve was, and simply said, “Room 708,” letting him stride through the door leading to the hallway he wanted without another comment. Steve was pretty sure he’d said thank you...but he didn’t really have time to dwell on it.

He reached room 708 and grabbed the clipboard hanging on the door, taking the time to look over it before facing Tony. Broken wrist, minor scraping and bruising, collision induced CAD, which Steve knew were just fancy words for whiplash. Steve had been informed it was minor, but it was good to have all the injuries laid out in front of him. He always made sure to know the extent of every team member’s injury after a big fight. His chest ached momentarily at the reminder that this hadn’t been a fight, at least not with other players involved. He needed to talk to Tony. The thought pushed him to replace the clipboard on the door and turn the doorknob to enter the room.

Tony was lying in the hospital bed, propped up so he had no problem typing away on his phone like nothing had happened. Strangely, instead of Tony’s blatant disregard for injury frustrating Steve, as it usually did, it made a fond smile appear on his face. Tony looked up at him and a tired smile graced his features to reciprocate Steve’s. Steve quickly noted the bruise above Tony’s right eyebrow, and his split lip, as well as the brace on his left wrist. A relieved sigh escaped his throat involuntarily, and he strode over to the bed to (carefully) pull Tony into his chest.

“Hey, Cap,” Tony spoke into his ear.

Steve pulled away and glanced around for a moment until he found a chair to sit in. He pulled it over next to the bed and collapsed backward.

“Tony. Thank God you’re alright,” Steve said. “You should really stop texting, or whatever you’re doing. I’m sure that’s not good for your wrist.”

Tony rolled his eyes, but placed the phone on the table beside the bed, so Steve counted it as a win.

“Don’t worry, Steve. It’s just a couple scrapes.”

Steve made a vague sound of acceptance, but didn’t let himself relax. He still had a lot of questions.

“Out with it. I can practically hear you thinking,” Tony smirked.

“Yeah, well,” Steve sat up a little in his chair, scooting closer toward Tony and grabbing his hand.

It felt better to actually be touching him, and Tony gladly curled his hand around Steve’s.

“I’m just a little confused, Tony. How did this happen?”

“Honestly, I don’t really remember,” Tony’s eyebrows bunched together, and he looked down at the bed sheet. “I think I must’ve fallen asleep or something. I don’t know.”

Steve felt a jolt in the pit of his stomach. He knew Tony hadn’t been getting much sleep, a more obvious fact since they’d started sleeping in the same bed years ago. But it had never affected Tony this way during the day. Steve remembered when it had been an issue at the beginning of their relationship, how he’d had to trick Tony into sleep in any way he could think up. It had slowly stopped being a problem over the years, and Steve had almost forgotten about it. But Tony had begun staying up late hours in the past couple weeks, with seemingly no explanation. Steve felt a little ashamed that he hadn’t thought to really confront Tony about it. He needed to work harder to force Tony to rest. But it still didn’t make sense.

“I thought all your cars had safety codes to prevent anything like this from happening. Isn’t Jarvis able to override or something when he thinks you’re incapable of driving?” Steve asked.

Tony’s expression turned sheepish all the sudden, his eyes shying away from Steve’s, and Steve immediately got suspicious.

“What? What aren’t you telling me?” Steve squeezed Tony’s hand in reassurance.

Tony sighed and met his eyes again.

“I wasn’t driving one of my cars. I mean...” Tony faltered. “It is mine, technically. It’s just...”

He trailed off, and Steve gave his hand another squeeze.

“It was my dad’s car,” Tony said quietly.

Steve knew better than to ask. Tony would tell him if he gave him a few moments to build his courage. So he just sat quietly for a moment, rubbing his thumb over the back of Tony’s hand. He hadn’t even known Tony had one of Howard’s cars in storage. Tony took a breath and Steve shoved his thoughts aside for the moment.

“I, uh, I don’t know. I was feeling nostalgic, or some shit, and I guess my sleep-deprived mind thought it was a good idea to take it out for a joyride,” Tony swallowed thickly. “Ironic, isn’t it, that I managed to wreck it almost as good as he did.”

Steve was about to speak, but Tony wasn’t quite finished.

“Guess I couldn’t even manage to do that better than my father.”

Tony wasn’t looking at Steve anymore, so Steve reached over to turn his chin towards him.

“Listen to me, Tony. I’m not really sure where all this came from, and I’m a little concerned that you didn’t speak a word about it to me before this happened, but you’re better than Howard ever was; a better person, a better engineer, a better husband...” Steve grinned at Tony, and Tony just rolled his eyes again. “...and one day, you’re gonna be a better father too. I love you. And there’s no way I could do any of this without you; this job, this life, this team. None of it. So whatever this is that’s been bothering you about Howard, talk to me. Because this can’t happen again.”

Tony sent Steve a fond look and tugged the hand he was holding to his lips, pressing a firm kiss to the skin there, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so. Steve smiled and wrapped his other hand around Tony’s after he’d placed them back on the bed.

“It’s just recently that I found a few of his things in some of the storage lockers he had records of. There wasn’t anything of real significance, not anymore anyway. But I don’t know. It was strange, having him in my thoughts again. Honestly, I haven’t thought about him much since the whole Vanko thing years ago,” Tony shrugged. “It was weird not telling you about it.”

Steve nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“I don’t really know. I thought I’d gotten over all of this. I mean, this guy just won’t go away,” Tony let out a humorless laugh, shaking his head.

Steve reached up and smoothed away a few loose strands of hair from Tony’s face, trailing his fingers down to rest against his cheek.

“I know you want it to disappear, but he’s your father. He’s gonna crop up every once in awhile. But what you don’t need to do is kick yourself for letting it get to you,” Steve made sure he spoke directly into Tony’s eyes. “Every Avenger has their own issues. It’s basically required in order to be on the team,” Tony laughed a little at that. “It isn’t a weakness for affecting you. It’s gonna take some time. But until then, you can talk to me when he suddenly decides to make an appearance in your thoughts.”

Tony nodded and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, he looked a lot more relaxed.

“Sounds like a deal,” he smiled and Steve returned it. “Anyway, I’m actually feeling tired, so I think I’m gonna close my eyes for a bit.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Steve smirked and Tony just huffed. “I’ll just hang around, then.”

Steve patted Tony’s hand once more before releasing it and leaning back in his chair. Tony gave him another smile and closed his eyes.

“I love you, Steve,” Tony said.

“Love you, Tony,” Steve returned.

He only had to wait a moment before Tony predictably spoke again.

“I love you too, buddy,” Tony mumbled.

Steve smiled and shook his head. Tony had always insisted on being the last one to say ‘I love you’ ever since they’d started saying it. No matter how many times they battled it out, Steve always let him win. For some reason, it was something Tony needed. He let his gaze linger on Tony’s peaceful expression one more time, before relaxing into his chair and getting some shut-eye of his own.


End file.
